Shah is not the first Toronto rapper whose stardom was propelled by Atlanta. Drake and Torey Lanez have credited Atlanta for helping launch their careers. Even Kardinal Offishall, the original Toronto rap god, relocated to Atlanta after signing with Akon’s Konvict music. So it’s surprising that prior to last week, no Toronto artist had ever conquered Hot 107.9FM’s Battlegrounds, arguably Atlanta’s most influential radio program known for launching soon-to-be national hits. This all changed last week when Shah’s newest single Just Text swept Battlegrounds, attaining the maximum five wins. In the days since its Battlegrounds reign, Just Text began charting in cities neighboring Atlanta.

Toronto recording artist Shah’s successful summer is continuing into September as his single Just Text has been crowned champion of influential Atlanta radio station Hot 107.9FM’s Battlegrounds, the station’s famed segment where listeners call in to vote for their choice of song of the day. Shah is not only the first Canadian rapper to be crowned champion the maximum 5 times, but is in fact the first rapper born outside of America to accomplish the feat. Several songs that achieved 5 Battleground wins went on to become national hits, and Shah’s Just Text appears to be headed in that direction. As of September 8, Just Text was ranked Atlanta’s 15th most popular hip hop record as per ATL Top 20 charts and had climbed to become the second most popular song on WFXE 104.9 FM (Foxie 105) in Columbus, Georgia. Just Text’s growing popularity continues to fuel Shah’s sizzling 2017 which began with predictions of a breakout year for him from across the blogosphere.